Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co. v. Simonson

Citations

• 54 Ill. 504

Syllabus

<p>1. Contributory negligence—in resped to fire communicated by locomotive to adjacent property. It has been held, that where fire is ignited on the right of way of a railroad, by reason of an accumulation of dry grass and weeds thereon, and communicated to the adjoining fields by the negligence of the owner in not keeping them free from combustible materials, the owner can not recover for the injury thereby occasioned, unless the negligence of the company is greater than his own.</p> <p>2. So in an action for such injury, it is erroneous in the instructions to the jury, to base the plaintiff's right of recovery wholly on the question of the negligence of the company, ignoring the doctrine of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff.</p> <p>3. But where the adjoining land, to which fire has been so communicated, is wood land, that fact should he considered by the court in the instructions, as abating the degree of diligence required of the land owner, on account of the greater difficulty of keeping such land clear of inflammable matter.</p>